Chapter 4 The Crisis Of Exposure

The second Herbert finished speaking, everyone fell silent. It was so quiet that one could've heard a pin drop.

All the color drained from Winnie's livid face. She didn't dare to retort, so she could do nothing but glare at Sheila.

The hairs on the back of Sheila's neck stood on end. It never occurred to her that Winnie's fiancé-to-be would be the man she had slept with last night.

"Why are you all just standing outside?"

At this time, Enoch approached them. When he saw Gerald, he smiled from ear to ear and said, "Mr. Lamont, you're here! Our private room is right around the corner. Please come on in."

Gerald nodded and walked with Enoch towards the private room.

Blushing, Winnie quickly followed and caught up to Gerald.

Sheila breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't until there was some distance between her and Gerald that she started walking.

She deliberately tried to stay away from the man she had slept with last night.

In the private room, Gerald sat down, glanced around, and said calmly, "I'm sorry for what happened last night. That is why I have invited you here today. I want to take responsibility for what happened and discuss the engagement with Miss Newell."

Winnie was overjoyed. She put on a shy expression and leaned towards Gerald intimately.

Gerald dodged her advance subconsciously with a slight frown. He repelled away from Winnie by instinct.

Winnie's smile froze and a trace of indignation flashed in her eyes. However, she quickly put on a smile and continued to play the role of a submissive woman.

Seeing Winnie's disgusting behavior, Herbert disliked her even more.

He sat down, deliberately making sure there was a vacant spot between him and Winnie, with obvious disgust on his face.

Seeing that there was only one seat left, Sheila stopped in her tracks.

Now that things had come to this point, she had no choice but to sit in the vacant spot next to Winnie and pray that this dinner would end as soon as possible.

Over dinner, Winnie noticed that there was no cream of mushroom soup in front of Herbert.

Rolling her eyes internally, she figured this would be a good chance to curry favor with her future brother-in-law.

"Herbert, why don't you have soup? I'll give you mine." Winnie picked up her bowl of soup with a charming smile and tried to hand it to Herbert.

"Quit pretending to be nice." Herbert didn't even look at her. He had no intention to accept anything from Winnie.

"Herbert, I just care about you. I'm not pretending to be nice. Do you think I'm pretending, Gerald?" Winnie was stunned. Putting on an aggrieved look, she pouted and looked to Gerald for help.

Gerald gave his younger brother a warning glance.

Herbert snorted and rolled his eyes. He didn't want to see Winnie's fake, pretentious face, so he looked the opposite way.

Unwilling to give up, Winnie picked up the bowl of soup and walked to Herbert's seat, pretending to be gentle. "Herbert, I just care about you."

"I told you I didn't want it! Are you deaf, woman?" Herbert sneered with disdain. He couldn't stand it anymore and swatted the bowl of soup away.

"Ah!" Winnie screamed. In order to protect herself, she dropped the bowl subconsciously.

"Ouch!" Winnie had inadvertently dropped the bowl right on top of Sheila's head, and the thick, hot soup slid down her cheeks. The soup was so unbearably hot that she gasped in pain.

She looked like a poor, drowned kitten.

Seeing the innocent get hurt, Herbert immediately handed a tissue to Sheila in a panic. "Are you okay? Quick! Wipe it off!"

Sheila couldn't open her eyes because of the thick soup. Wincing in pain, she gratefully accepted the tissue and was about to take off the glasses to wipe her face, but Winnie's ear-piercing scream interrupted her. "How dare you?!"

As soon as she uttered this, Winnie soon realized her folly. She tried her best to hide the panic in her eyes as Gerald looked at her with bewilderment. Lowering her head, she pretended that nothing had happened.

Thinking of Ivan's medical fees, Sheila didn't dare to disobey Winnie's order. She stopped in her tracks and murmured, "Thank you for your concern. I'm fine."

Gerald frowned. He called a waiter over and ordered coldly, "Get us some burn ointment."

The waiter quickly fetched the ointment for Sheila.

Sheila gratefully accepted the ointment and lowered her head. "Thank you, everyone. I'll go to the bathroom to deal with it. I don't want to disturb your discussion."

After saying that, Sheila scurried out of the private room.

Now that Sheila had left, Winnie's expression softened a lot, but that didn't stop her from dragging Sheila's name through the mud. "My sister's skin is thick. She'll be fine."

Hearing this, Gerald cast a cold glance at Winnie.

His stare sent a shiver down Winnie's spine. She immediately shut her mouth, at a loss for words.

Seeing the stalemate, Enoch hurriedly tried to save the situation. "Winnie can be thoughtless sometimes. She just said it casually. Mr. Lamont, please don't take it to heart."

This brought Winnie back to her senses. She squeezed out a tear or two and sobbed, "I'm sorry, Gerald."

Herbert had had enough of her bullshit. He sneered coldly, "What a hypocrite!"